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3-year-old pre-K student ‘sad’ after New Braunfels ISD transportation issues

New Braunfels ISD investigating how a three-year-old child was left on a school bus

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – A three-year-old New Braunfels ISD student didn’t make it home on her normal bus route two days in a row. The school district is now investigating the second incident, as she was left sitting on a bus after all the other students got off.

Camilla is a pre-kindergarten student in New Braunfels. Her mom tells KSAT that Camilla didn’t get off the bus after school on Wednesday, August 21, or Thursday, August 22.

Camilla’s mom is minimizing their identity as the school works to investigate the situation.

Her mom said the first day, she called the school, and they told her Camilla was at school, they hadn’t put her on the bus, and the mistake wouldn’t happen again.

While that mistake didn’t happen the next day, another mistake did happen.

After school, Camilla has to get on one bus from her preschool to another elementary school. At that elementary school, she’s supposed to get off the first bus and onto a second bus to go home. That didn’t happen.

“I felt like she was kidnapped,” her mom said.

“I called the school in a hurry, and they said that they didn’t have her,” she said.

So, she called 911.

“I think it was like 20 minutes, 30 minutes, thinking, where is she? You know,” her mom said. “Nobody, nobody, not one school, not the other school, nobody had her.”

“Then, (at) about 3:56 PM, the school calls and says, we have her. We found her on the bus.”

It’s a problem New Braunfels ISD told KSAT they’re investigating and sent the following statement:

“NBISD is aware of the situation and is currently investigating. At this time, we can assure the student was under the supervision of an NBISD staff member at all times. We take the safety of our students very seriously.”

The district also said there are cameras on the bus.

However, Camilla’s mom said her child was alone.

“They said they told the bus driver to check, and then the bus driver went and checked, and she was in there,” her mom said. “Those buses don’t have air conditioning.”

Camilla is a girl of few words but said the incident made her feel “sad.”

Camilla’s mom is keeping her off the bus until she gets more answers as to how all of this happened.


About the Authors

Zaria Oates is a news reporter for KSAT 12. She joined in June 2024 from Memphis, where she worked at ABC24. Oates graduated from Clemens High School in Schertz and earned a journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma. She's passionate about learning, traveling and storytelling.

Gavin Nesbitt is an award-winning photojournalist and video editor who joined KSAT in September 2021. He won a Lone Star Emmy, a Regional Murrow, a Texas Broadcast News Award, a Headliners Foundation Silver Showcase Award and 2 Telly Awards for his work covering the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

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